Saturday’s Prayer Meeting will be on Zoom

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81914172185?pwd=aGFBTGw0UE9vS214cDR5WW5OWW9rQT09

Meeting ID: 819 1417 2185 Passcode: 627289

If you would like to print this page without the media, then id can be downloaded in pdf form below.

Almighty God, your ascended Son has sent us into the world to preach the good news of your kingdom: inspire us with your Spirit and fill our hearts with the fire of your love, that all who hear your Word may be drawn to you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [Collect for Thy Kingdom Come]

Let’s start by praying for our five. Here’s a video to encourage us.

Time of quiet to bring the people we are praying for before God.

Praying for Opportunities and Celebrate what God is doing.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth’. [Acts 1:8] 

We pray for:

• opportunities to speak to people we are praying for
• opportunities for people we meet – perhaps in street parties over the weekend.
• opportunities at church – new activities
• opportunities in town – CTF stuff coming up – carnival, the missions we support or ar ein town – Walton Parish Nursing, The Compass, CAP, Hope Trust, Boost, Port Missions

We pray in faith that God will move in power in these situations.

God of every time and place you hold each moment and shape each day; open our eyes to see you at work, walk beside us wherever our journeys lead, help us to have confidence that you provide us with what we need and strengthen us as your disciples in every area of our lives, in the power of the Spirit and in the name of Jesus. Amen

Praying through the Challenges

16 ‘I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. 17This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, because He abides with you, and He will be in you’. [John 14:16-17]

The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit. [2 Corinthians 3.17,18]

Bringing peace, life and hope through the worship and witness of MRBC

We pray for:

• those needing a working of the Spirit in their life – the sick, those under pressure, those going through family problems, those doing exams, those pressured at work
• Pray that we will know the Lord’s presence and guidance as we seek a new Pastor.
• Continue to pray that the Lord will provide the resources, financially and in terms of people as we seek to move forward.

We also pray for peace:

• thanks for 70 years of our monarch’s reign and her Christian witness. May this be a characteristic of our land as we move forward against the background of so many problems.
• For the country of Ukraine, that peace may be sought between the countries of Russia and Ukraine.
• For refugees both within Ukraine and in other countries – and also here in Felixstowe.

Finally we pray for the peace of God in our lives:

21 Now when all the people were baptised, and when Jesus also had been baptised and was praying, the heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with You I am well pleased. [Luke 3:21-22]

Only in the account of Jesus baptism does the Holy Spirit appear in the form of a dove. But of course we bring in all the mentions of the peace that is ours in the Spirit. In our imaginations this dove of peace is usually a brilliant white spotless creature. However, Luke uses the word for a different type of dove; a rock dove. A rock dove is of nondescript colour and is so named because it lays its eggs in the inner recesses of caves and dark places. The picture we see is of the Holy Spirit as the one who brings life in the deepest and darkest recesses of our life. This is the peace of God. Coming into our deepest and most hidden places, the inaccessible places, and there bringing, creating and generating peace. (From the Thy Kingdom Come daily materials, 2022)

Come Holy Spirit … breathe Your breath into me that I may be Your new creation, and breathe into life those I hold before You. Amen.

This Sunday’s Service is at church at 10-30am. Mark is doing his second talk in the series on Isaiah 6 entitled Growing Back Stronger.

..

Here’s the TKC song for 2022 “Not made for the harbour” by Andy Flanagan. Our other TKC resources for today and the coming week are on: http://www.mrbcfelixstowe.org.uk/blogmrbc/2022/05/26/thy-kingdom-come-2022/

..

The BMS video on Ukraine is below:

The BMS Ukraine page is at: https://www.bmsworldmission.org/appeal/ukraine-2022/

For Reflection and Discussion

Read Isaiah 6:1-13

It may be useful to look at this before you start this study:

https://churchmodel.org.uk/2022/05/15/growth-decline-and-extinction-of-uk-churches/ by John Hayward.

1. How aware are you of the decline of the Christian faith in Britain in the last half century or so? How seriously should we take studies like the one above? (It’s one of many over the years that describe the same trend.)

2. Why do you think churches have contracted so rapidly and now some denominations face extinction? Is it just the faithlessness of the present generation, or does the church bear responsibility for it’s own demise?

3. Last week we saw that even by the end of the first century, churches were in deep trouble and some facing extinction in the Roman province of Asia (Western Turkey). What was happening to the rest of the church in the world at that time? We have lamented to contraction of church in our land, but what is going on in the rest of the world? What does that tell us about the purposes of God?

4. We see in Isaiah 6:13 that the stump grows back, but that only happens when the tree is properly cut back by the forester (or vines grow better if they are pruned – John 15). What do you think that entails for the church in our day? What should we do to allow God to produce new growth in us by His Spirit?

This Sunday Mark will be exploring Isaiah 6 in a series related to Thy Kingdom Come. Do check out our TKC Page for more information. This week we will be looking at Isaiah’s words in verse 11: “How long, O Lord.”

..

..

FOR REFLECTION & DISCUSSION

Read Isaiah chapter 6:1-13

1. Have you ever had an experience of the presence of God which was life-changing for you? In what sort of circumstances may we expect a strong experience of the presence of God?

2. Isaiah accepted a commission from God to speak to a people who basically weren’t going to respond well to the message God was giving him to speak? To what extent should we expect that to be true as we follow the Great Commission (Matt 28:1802) today.

3. The people Isaiah was commissioned to prophesy to were the Jews, the people of God? They had been blessed during Uzziah’s reign, but what was the sin that had been besetting them for generations? You may need to read other chapters in Isaiah and look through Kings or Chronicles to find some – they are plentiful!

4. What do you think the besetting sins of the church in our country (and other western countries) that have brought us into decline. For help, the letters to the seven churches in Asia in Revelation 1-4 will give you lots of clues? Do you agree with Mark that the decline has been largely the church’s fault, or is it because of society’s sins, or “God moving in mysterious ways?”

5. Is further decline of the church in the UK (and in Felixstowe) inevitable and all we can do is “move the deckchairs on the Titanic”? Is it reversible now, or do we have to suffer further loss before anything significant happens (how long, O Lord)? If the answer to the previous question is “reversible now”, how costly is it likely to be and in what ways?

We will be joining the Baptist Assembly for our Sunday Service this week. It commences at 10-30am and finishes at Noon. For those unable to to get to church, it can also be viewed online at home on YouTube on the link below. If you come online after it has started, you can run it back to the beginning in the usual way. The video can be viewed at a subsequent date too.

Click here to view directly on YouTube: https://youtu.be/A8WrjuH6DZA

You can also view other sessions over the Baptist Assembly weekend. Details can be found here: https://www.baptist.org.uk/Groups/247895/The_Baptist_Assembly.aspx

There is no service transcript or notes for reflection and discussion for this service.

Our service this morning is led by Delyth Mayhew and our speaker is John Gillett from Walton Parish Nursing.

There is no service transcript and material for reflection and discussion this week.

..

..

This is a Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82146137864?pwd=L0NTZlRIUlFCNm95TGRIdEdEWlJBZz09

Meeting ID: 821 4613 7864 Passcode: 012748

..

GIVE THANKS – what should we give thanks for?

GLOBAL AND NATIONAL

• the situation in Ukraine
• for our Government, Parliament and local authorities in the light of recent events.
• For those families struggling with increasing energy and food costs

LOCAL

• Pray for local ministries – Hope Trust, Boost Academy Chaplaincy, Felixstowe Town Pastors, The Compass, Fun and Faith, Ship Chaplains, the Seafarers’ Centre, port-side Chaplain, pop-up shops
• Give thanks for the way the CAP ministry has been established and is in so much demand. Pray for an additional debt coach.
• Pray that churches, including ours will find ways of reaching the new residents in the new developments.

MRBC

• Pray for our two new outreach projects, Tea and Cake and Home Craft.
• Pray for Walton Parish Nursing: for our Parish Nurses, for the Volunteers, and the activities: Exercise Classes, Kinsugi Hope, No Labels, Fizzability. Pray for the clients too.
• Pray that we will know the Lord’s presence and guidance as we seek a new Pastor.
• Pray too for the Reids as they move into a new phase in their lives
• Pray for those experiencing poor heath from Covid, Long Covid and other health issues. Pray too for those still shielding. Who do we need to pray for?
• Continue to pray that the Lord will provide the resources, financially and in terms of people as we seek to move forward.

Coming soon!

This Sunday, our Communion Service is entitled ZAP! @MRBCFelixstowe on Sunday 1st May at 10-30am, at church and on Zoom.

Sorry, there are no items for reflection & discussion this week.

Our service this Sunday will focus on a post-resurrection appearance of Jesus as related to us by John in the “appendix” to his Gospel. The service is in person at MRBC at 10-30am and also on Zoom. The Weekly Sheet will appear here by Sunday morning.

There are no items for reflection & discussion this week.

..